LAKE CHARLES – McNeese volleyball honored its seniors against Sam Houston State on Thursday night and in return, the seniors came close to pulling the upset against the Bearkats before falling 3-1 (25-20, 25-16, 21-25, 25-22).
 
The loss dropped the Cowgirls to 5-5 overall and in Southland Conference play while Sam Houston remained in contention for the league title after improving to 8-1 overall and in conference action.
 
Seniors playing in their final home game were Alexis Lambert, Caitlin Sharrock and Madison Fontenot.
 
Regan Stiawalt recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs while Kendall Glueck led the team with 14 kills and a .355 hitting percentage. Baylee Laskoskie added a double-double with 10 digs and 18 assists. Madison Fontenot topped the squad with 17 digs.
 
The Bearkats were led on offense by Ashley Lewis with 12 kills.
 
All four sets were tightly contested games with the winner pulling away late, for the exception of the third set where the Cowgirls held a 24-16 lead before Sam Houston rolled off five straight points to pull to within 24-21. A kill by Jaiden Kennedy shut the door for the Cowgirls on the Bearkats to pull the match score to within 2-1.
 
In the fourth set, McNeese scored the first two points and led 11-5 with points scored off of three straight kills by Glueck and back-to-back spikes by Keilee Guinn.
 
The Bearkats put together a 7-2 run to pull to within 13-12, but a service error by Morgan Janda snapped the run and put the Cowgirls up 14-12. Sam Houston tied the game at 15-15 and the two teams traded leads over the next several possessions until the Bearkats broke an 18-18 game after a kill by Makensie Garner and a McNeese attack error to grab a 20-18 lead.
 
Kennedy pulled the Cowgirls to within 20-19 with a kill but Sam Houston added four straight points following a couple of McNeese hitting errors, a kill and service ace to make it a 24-19 lead.
 
Macee Krpec knocked down a kill to make it a 24-20 game then two errors by the Bearkats closed the Cowgirls to within 24-22. But it was a McNeese attack error that gave Sam Houston its 25^th point to close out the match.
 
The Cowgirls will close out their regular season next week when they visit Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday followed by a Saturday match at Incarnate Word.